Feel Better Energy - Marketing Society · 2019-04-26 · Marketing Society Awards 2013 AMV BBDO ALL RESULTS DATA FOR JUDGES’ EYES ONLY Feel better energy / Executive Summary 2 EDF

Marketing Society Awards 2013

AMV BBDO ALL RESULTS DATA FOR JUDGES’ EYES ONLY

Feel Better Energy

/ Category E: Marketing Communications



Feel better energy

2 / Executive Summary

EDF Energy overcame the restrictions and hostility towards the energy category, to create transformative communications in 2012. Using the emotional appeal of a character based campaign, the brand was embraced by customers and employees alike. EDF Energy were winning of all market switchers and achieved the largest net gains in product accounts of all major suppliers since launch; the only top 6 energy supplier to grow share. The activity delivered ROI of Word count: 74



From the fringes to centre stage

3 / Introduction

Imagine being responsible for the fifth biggest

brand in a category that consumers sometimes

hate, and often ignore. Your lovingly crafted

marketing is swept from their brains by tabloid

headlines and Today programme interviews. You

try to create differentiation, and consumers can’t

even remember your name.

Your main lever for differentiation is no longer

seen to be as convincing as it once was. Your

discussed in parliament and stringently

monitored by a government regulator. Oh, and

your main competitor spends three times as

much money as you.

Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

This story is about the

revitalisation of the EDF Energy

brand in the UK. The story of

how marketing moved a brand

from the fringes to centre stage,

navigating a successful path

through a thicket of restrictions

and winning customers at a faster

rate than any of their competitors.



EDF Energy became the brand we know today in the

UK market in 2003, as part of a wave of acquisitions

and re-brandings that saw the arrival of e.on from

Germany, the re-branding of Npower, and the

creation of Scottish and Southern. British Gas (the

historic monopoly provider) was the only brand

largely untouched by these shenanigans, and this

created a brand advantage for them that remains

today, having traded under variations of the same

name since 1973. In a low interest market,

familiarity counts for a lot.

Despite EDF Energy’s success, they had failed to make their mark in the minds of the British public, often referenced as part of the industry’s notorious ‘big six’ they were only the 5th most spontaneously recalled brand with small market share.

4 / History

A bit of history

Sources: EDF Energy IPSOS Brand Tracker, March 2012

Cornwall Energy, Electricity and Gas Supply Market Shares, Domestic Survey Report Q4 2012



Gas and electricity are seen as commodity products.

Paradoxically, although we couldn’t live without the

products, the supply brands elicit apathy and confusion

amongst many.

5 / Context

A negative sea of sameness

Source: ICM, Base: 2299 respondents, fieldwork 27 April – 5 May 2011

As if it’s not challenging enough for a marketer in this sector to engage consumers, in recent years, indifference has turned into hatred and disdain.

Customers saw a category that’s always increasing prices ‘to cover costs’ but still reporting extortionate profits. A world filled with multiple tariffs, incomprehensible energy jargon and complex billing. And if they wanted a good deal, the responsibility was firmly theirs.

All of this resulted in an impression amongst customers that all energy suppliers are the same; there is no real (positive) choice.

How could EDF Energy differentiate itself - become the brand that customers actively want to choose in this negative sea of sameness?



Becoming the ‘cheap’ provider to drive brand differentiation was not an option.

Many energy companies are effectively split into two businesses – one generating and supplying electricity to the national grid; the other buying blended energy from the grid and supplying it to homes and businesses. You don’t directly supply the energy you generate.

Unlike an FMCG brand, which

can manipulate the cost of their

product either at the retail end,

through promotions, or the

supply chain side, by squeezing

manufacturing costs, the energy

sector’s complexity doesn’t

allow providers this luxury.

6 / Context

Limitations of a complex market



‘Save Today, Save Tomorrow’ was the brand’s summation of their low carbon credentials and the dual benefit to the customer and environment, this was brought to life by ‘Team Green Britain’ campaigns.

This was an effective strategy for a little while. In 2006 climate change was topping the list of household concerns. Then came the global crash, and money was overwhelmingly everyone’s main concern.

EDF Energy’s business differentiator was no longer as motivating, (although still core to the business). The brand would have to find another means of standing out.

*Electricity can be generated by, fossil fuels, nuclear power, renewable technologies

Energy (electricity specifically) can be generated in a

number of ways*, EDF Energy had previously positioned

their marketing around their generation differentiator –

Low Carbon. (As EDF Energy runs many of Britain’s

Nuclear power plants, the energy generated and supplied

to the grid is very low carbon)

7 / Context

Generation – Differentiating but not motivating



In search of stand-out

8 / Strategy

Standing out in the energy

category would be no easy task.

ATL spend regularly

surpasses £100m year on

year. As with market share,

there’s one dominant

player, British Gas, who

accounts for over half of

that spend (in addition to

the legacy benefits of

brand familiarity).

Gaining share of voice

by outspending our

competitors was not

a viable option. Our

campaign would have

to punch above its

weight in order to

cut through



We discovered that rational argument would struggle against cynicism in the energy category (our IPSOS brand tracker showed that only of consumers felt ‘my energy company acts with my interests in mind’). So if we were to neutralise this negativity, we would need to engage emotionally, not rationally.

We were lacking emotion, being too absolute and directive. So we evolved our claim to providing ‘feel better energy’. Combined with a different advertising approach consumers connected with our messages – we were able to accommodate our core business differentiator whilst injecting the emotion we needed.

The first expression of our brand’s benefit (low

carbon supply) and ambition (becoming the positive

choice) as ‘the better energy company’ failed to

engage customers in research.

9 / Strategy

Repositioning EDF Energy



We decided that having a character would give customers a property to connect with, much easier for people to do than connecting directly with a brand.

It also gave us an asset, a visual shortcut for people to remember the brand by (helpful for our relatively small spend)

The vital thing was to find a character that would effectively bring to life our new brand promise, ‘feel better energy’.

Meet Zingy.

The role of a character

10 / Strategy



Zingy, was originally inspired by a robot called Keepon*.

Keepon is a robot that was developed and used in the classroom to help autistic children interact with the world.

Like its inspiration we found it was essential to maintain a neutral appearance. By doing so it allowed viewers to project their own personality and feelings.

This ‘blank canvas’ of the character is what gave it its cute distinctive charm. Its appearance and simple movements connected with consumers positively, raising smiles thus generating warmth towards the brand itself.

We worked with the creators of Keepon to develop our own character. And called him Zingy.

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g-yrjh58ms

Inspired by ‘feel better’ technology

11 / Strategy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g-yrjh58ms





The positive impact on brand perceptions was quantified using Hall & Partners’

Brand Engager Model, with encouraging results:

It was also important to make sure a dancing robot did not undermine the brand’s expertise or integrity, being a nuclear operator.

Research validated that although Zingy was unexpected from an energy supplier, it did not call into question the brand’s generation credentials.

Qualitative research found that the ads drove an emotional

response by disarming the audience and sidestepping any

rational resistance. At the same time this small robot

helped overcome the negative industry sentiment.

12 / Strategy

How the emotion comes through



We were able to use Zingy

on every branded surface a

customer was likely to

encounter for EDF Energy,

ensuring complete

consistency through the

line, capturing the ‘feel

better’ idea throughout.

Our integration was

another way for us to

create a bigger impact on

our relatively small budget.

13 / Strategy

It only works if it works everywhere



Whilst the approach was about emotional connection, we

knew there was an opportunity and an obligation to change

what we were offering, not just how we were advertising. So,

we innovated against ‘feel better energy’ in product, service

and loyalty.

The flagship was a new product called ‘Blue’, the first variant

of which we launched was Blue+Price Promise. This product

offered households a category defying promise - if you could

get your energy cheaper with another provider, we would tell

you AND allow you to leave for free, unlike most other tariffs

at the time which charged termination fees. And furthermore,

the product was backed with low carbon nuclear supply, so

now people could get low carbon at no extra cost.

14 / Strategy

Another reason to feel better



Launch TVC

/ The Work

Product TVC Press & OOH

The work



2012 was a big year for EDF Energy. In addition to the strategies described, EDF Group was a sustainability partner of London 2012. But Zingy could not be used during the period of the games - no sponsor could feature any unofficial ‘mascot’ in their advertising, therefore the measurement of success is restricted to the first half of the year.

The brand experienced significant increases in, spontaneous awareness and key equity statements, gaining ground on category leader, British Gas.

Blue secured endorsements from market influencers, Martin Lewis (Money Saving Expert) who promoted the product across a number of channels including TV and Radio (BBC Radio 5) and on his Twitter feed.

Measure March

2012

July

2012

Uplift British

Gas (July 2012)

Spontaneous

Awareness

Offers great deals

Stands out in a

positive way in the

energy industry

Results

16 / Results

Source: EDF Energy IPSOS Brand Tracker July 2012

“I give it an 8.5 out of 10. This is a rock ‘n roll tariff ... plaudits to EDF”.

Martin Lewis (Money Saving Expert)



Across all tracking measures, EDFE increased by a cumulative percentage points, whilst the category, on average, increased by only percentage points.

Advertising recognition peaked at , attribution to EDF Energy peaking at

(for comparison, when British Gas first launched their current campaign, attribution was only )

The work proved positive for the brand with of respondents say the advertising makes them feel more positive about EDF Energy.

And it delivered on the ‘feel good’ factor with of people saying it made them smile, and saying they enjoyed watching the ad.

17 / Results

Ad performance

Source: IPSOS Brand Tracker & Debrief July 2012



18 / Results

Measure 2012 Post ‘Feel Better

Energy’ Campaign

(% total favourable)

Uplift

from 2011

EDF Energy’s new

advertising inspires me

as an employee

I believe EDF Energy’s

executive team (CEO

included) have a clear

vision for the future

Feel Better Energy inspired employees and gave

them confidence that the organisation was moving

in the right direction.

Employee engagement

Source: B2C Employee Engagement Interim Survey (June 2012)



19

Employees took zingy to their hearts

/ Results

Zingy travelled the globe

with our employees, during

holidays usually designed

with the express purpose of

forgetting about work.

None of this was specifically

designed, or encouraged by

the marketing team, and in

fact the levels of

engagement were beyond

our wildest imaginings.

Clearly this was becoming

a special relationship.



20 / Results

Please note: not all the cake creative work is LOCOG or IOC compliant, and is used here purely to illustrate depth of employee engagement, none of the above cakes were created by the brand or comms team, or shown to customers.

Particularly popular on cakes, for some reason



Sentiment in social media was transformed - As a ‘feel bad’ category an average of only of mentions are positive. After the campaign, of EDF Energy mentions were positive. Zingy was a hit.

recognised the character and liked him online. 34 fan pages started on Facebook with an accumulative followers (the most popular page is called “I love Zingy the EDF Energy orange blob”). Not to mention the unsanctioned Zingy merchandise that can be found living on eBay.

Social acclaim from customers

21 / Results

Recognised Zingy

Liked him online

Fan pages

followers



22 / Results



new Blue accounts ( ahead of target), and existing accounts transferred to Blue ( ahead of target). By year end, there were over 1m Blue accounts, and existing customer churn had dropped from to .

Industry data has confirmed EDF Energy were winning of all market switchers and has achieved the

largest net gains in product accounts of all major suppliers since launch. During April-July 2012 EDF Energy’s net gains were greater than second place competitor Scottish Power.

We exceeded all our sales targets.

23 / Results

Business performance

Source EDF Energy Sales Date. DECC

Blue accounts by year end

of all market switchers won



As referenced earlier in the paper, the energy market has 4 parts with energy being bought

and sold before it gets to customers. The large profits reported by energy companies are in

fact driven by the generation side, not the supply (B2C) side. A report by the industry

regulator showed that energy companies have on average made only 1.6% profit on supplying

customers since 2005.

Using EDF Energy’s brand valuation tool, independently audited by brand valuation experts at

Brand Finance, we isolated the financial contribution this advertising will have on our

business leading to a positive post-tax ROI of This is based on incremental retention

and acquisition of B2C customers directly linked to ATL. (For comparison, British Gas’ Gold

winning IPA effectiveness paper was

EDF Energy was also the only brand in the energy sector to grow market share.

Return on Investment

24 / ROI

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/energy-industry/energy-companies-profits-and-prices.html

Source:

















Conclusion

25 / Conclusion

Marketing has taken the brand from one of a number of relatively anonymous brands in the energy market, to one of the best known in the category, with a distinctly different brand claim, based on emotional connection, not rational connection. It’s paid back to the business immediately and has started strongly in becoming a feel good choice, in a feel bad category.

Word Count: 1,996

Documents

Feel Better Energy - Marketing Society · 2019-04-26 · Marketing Society Awards 2013 AMV BBDO ALL RESULTS DATA FOR JUDGES’ EYES ONLY Feel better energy / Executive Summary 2 EDF